For recreational tennis players who do not enjoy the luxury of having ball boys or ball girls to furnish new service balls to them, carrying extra service balls can be awkward. Some players stuff an extra ball or two in their shorts pockets, but this can be uncomfortable, and the balls can protrude to the extent that they interfere with one's stroke close to the body. It would be desirable to provide a more-convenient and less-restrictive way to carry extra service balls.
Pockets are conventionally provided in garments either by making a separate pocket and then sewing the pocket to the garment in registration with an opening formed through the garment, or by sewing a separate flap or patch of fabric to the garment fabric along three sides of the patch to form a so-called patch pocket. Thus, conventional pocket forming entails operations to cut out the fabric for forming the pocket and to sew the fabric to the garment, and may also require additional cutting and sewing operations to create the opening through the garment. These operations in most cases are performed by human workers using cutting and sewing devices. It would be desirable to automate the process of forming a pocket in a garment, and to automate as much as possible the entire process of making the garment.